Courtesy of Woodstock VenturesWoodstock co-founder Michael Lang says the 50th anniversary edition of the famous festival will go on despite the fact that the company that was funding the event has pulled out of the concert extravaganza.
Lang and his Woodstock 50 LLC company maintain in a statement issued Monday that they are “committed to ensuring that the 50th anniversary of Woodstock is marked with a festival deserving of its iconic name and place in American history and culture.”
They add, “Although our financial partner is withdrawing, we will of course be continuing with the planning of the festival and intend to bring on new partners…The bottom line is, there is going to be a Woodstock 50th Anniversary Festival, as there must be, and it’s going to be a blast.”
Earlier on Monday, Dentsu Aegis Network’s Amplifi Live, the company that was providing financial backing for Woodstock 50, announced it was “canceling the festival” because it doesn’t “believe the production…can be executed as an event worthy of the Woodstock Brand name while also ensuring the health and safety of the artists, partners and attendees.”
Woodstock 50 had been scheduled for August 16-18 in Watkins Glen, New York, about 140 miles from the original Woodstock festival site in Bethel, New York.
A star-studded lineup already had been announced that featured a wide range of veteran and contemporary artists, including some musicians who played at the original festival. Ticket details were to have been unveiled last week, but the announcement was postponed, signaling to media that trouble was brewing with regard to the plans for the event.
The Woodstock 50 website is still live, and features the full lineup, although it’s unclear whether the festival will go ahead with the same artists and at the same site.
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